New details are emerging about “Project Dynamo,” a deal being pursued by FloridaWest with an unidentified company that has an interest in buying 25 acres of the OLF 8 property in Beulah for $2.5 million.
According to minutes from the June 25 meeting of the Pensacola-Escambia Promotion and Development Commission (PEDC), the economic development deal is for a “distribution center.”
Brian Hilson, the CEO of FloridaWest Economic Development Alliance, explained to members of PEDC at the meeting that “this project will be a distribution center occupying an industrial building of 100,000 square feet.”
The mystery company would build its new facility in the extreme northwest corner of OLF 8 bordering Frank Reeder Road.
Initially, FloridaWest said the business would employ 210 people and between 170–189 of those positions would be full time with a minimum starting pay of $16.50 an hour plus benefits. According to the PEDC’s meeting minutes, Hilson said the business would employ “up to 125 workers.”
According to ZipRecruiter.com, the pay the company is offering is around the average salary of a warehouse worker and adds up to a little more than $34,000 a year.
The deal is being offered at the same time Escambia County is courting buyers for OLF 8. There are currently two offers on the table, one from Beulah Town Center (BTC), which is offering $25 million for 290 acres of the property and another offer from Tri W Development for $36 million offer for the entire OLF 8 property .
Longtime Beulah resident, Theresa Blackwell, has been active in the county’s plans to develop the property, which includes a master plan developed by DPZ that calls for a mix of commercial and residential development and a town center with amenities within walking distance like shops, restaurants and other services.
She supports “light industrial” development of the property. For example, Navy Federal Credit Union has a complex in the area which has sparked major growth and development in Beulah and the surrounding Pensacola area. However, Blackwell doesn’t see how a distribution center will be a boost to the overall development of OLF 8. She supports a diversity of business development and employment options, opportunities she believes could be limited if Beulah becomes “the warehouse for the county.”
“We don't want to take all the warehouses here,” explained Blackwell. “Warehouse development is really the bottom of the barrel as far as light industrial development. We have a top-of-the-barrel light industrial on site with Navy Federal, and that's as good as it gets. Why would we want to kick off the OLF 8 light industrial development with a bottom of the barrel project that is low pay and has a high probability of being, if not automated at the start, automated later, and a lot of those jobs would go away.”
According to Hilson, moving forward on Project Dynamo would also require revisions to the DPZ Master Plan including installation and expansion of water, sewer and road infrastructure. Escambia County is in the process of revising zoning issues that came during negotiations with developers interested in buying OLF 8.
The name of the company and the nature of the jobs involved has not been disclosed, but FloridaWest is urging Escambia County to move quickly on a possible sale because the company wants to build a facility that is 110,000 square feet and occupy it by Oct. 25.
Escambia County Commissioners Steven Barry and Jeff Bergosh are on the PEDC board and both have expressed support for Project Dynamo. Bergosh, who represents the area where Beulah is located, said it’s a “wonderful company” and a “world leader” that will comply with the zoning regulations for area. However, to win his vote he said it’s also important for the project to fit with the DPZ Master Plan.
“Even though they're a great company, even though they're going to bring jobs, even though I love them, I'm not voting for it if it doesn't meet the stipulations of the master plan,” Bergosh said.
You may like: Here's a rare look inside the OLF 8 property. Wetlands and woods offer picturesque view.
The commissioner added that another unnamed company is also eyeing property either at Pensacola’s Tech Park or OLF 8 with potential plans of adding a 60,000 square foot building. Due to non-disclosure agreements, he said details could not be released on either Project Dynamo or the second company.
Bergosh said he understands residents’ concerns about additional traffic industrial development will bring, but said the county is currently designing and preparing to launch a “significant project” for Frank Reeder Road, where Project Dynamo wants to build, that will include sidewalks, drainage improvements and a “much more robust roadway.” Bergosh said the county is utilizing more than $10 million in Triump Gulf Coast grant monies to fund the project.
Blackwell said she supports growth and development in the area but wants the county to be balanced in its approach.
“I think of OLF 8 as the center of our town,” Blackwell said. “That's the place we would organize around and where we would have our government facilities and our retail and our commerce and light industrial to provide a diversity of jobs. The goal I see that is best for us is to become a place complete unto itself.”
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Mystery company behind "Project Dynamo" wants to build a distribution center in Beulah
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